MAY 15, 2016, Vol 66, No 10

Left: Beneficiaries bringing up offertory gifts during the Mass at the Church of St Ignatius. Right: Archbishop William Goh giving communion to an SSVP beneficiary.

The Society of St Vincent de Paul (SSVP) held its annual Mass for their Friends-in-Need (FINs) at the Church of St Ignatius on April 23.

The Mass drew the biggest ever turnout of 860 attendees, 500 of whom were made up of the society’s adopted FINs, many of them non-Catholics.

Archbishop William Goh celebrated the Mass.

In his homily, he spoke about humanity’s unending quest for joy and meaning in life and how ultimately it is Jesus who satisfies and is the greatest gift that one can offer in the mission of the Church.

Archbishop Goh went on to say that Vincentians are also called to this mission, by revealing the face of God to their FINs and by seeing Jesus in the faces of those they serve.

But he warned about the inherent difficulties facing those who seek to build God’s kingdom.

An initiative by the Church of St Francis Xavier saw catechism class kids and other parishioners write notes of appreciation to priests in the archdiocese.

Dear Fr Brian, you are a very funny guy, at the same time you are kind. I like you the most because once you caught me doing funny dance moves and laughed along with me. You are like our Captain in The Avengers. Thank you for being our Cap. When I grow up, I want to be like you. Funny and kind, and always in the newspapers.

This was a note of appreciation penned by nine-year-old Shane Jeremiah Wong to Fr Brian D’Souza, parish priest of the Church of St Francis Xavier.

It was the result of a project, conceived by the Church of St Francis Xavier strategic team, to express appreciation to priests in the archdiocese on Good Shepherd Sunday.

The team approached the media ministry of the parish to come up with four different postcard designs to be sent to priests. These were made available to catechism-class kids and other parishioners.

Firefighters check a collapsed house on April 15 after an earthquake hit Mashiki, Japan. CNS photoCaritas Humanitarian Aid & Relief Initiatives, Singapore (CHARIS), the overseas humanitarian arm of the Church in Singapore, has pledged an initial $30,000 in grant aid to Caritas Ecuador and $20,000 to Caritas Japan.

The funds will be used for quake relief efforts – for food, shelter and other necessary support for those affected by the disasters.

CHARIS says it will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates on the response from its Caritas counterparts.

Ecuador was left in a state of emergency after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck on the evening of April 16. Buildings were razed to the ground and towns were devastated. Aftershocks followed and continued to hamper relief efforts. There have been at least 655 deaths, 48 people missing and over 2,000 homes and buildings damaged.

CANA The Catholic Centre will hold the second edition of its CANA Film Festival (CFF) from Sept 7-13. The biennial event first took place in June 2014 and is focused on the universality of Catholic social teachings.

According to CANA, stories about good versus evil, friendship, hopes and disappointments, life, love and loss will be brought to life in a myriad of independent films such as documentaries, docudramas and shorts, gleaned from many different parts of the world.

The event will have at least 15 hours of film screenings over one week. This will also include a youth segment which will screen films specially targeted at youths and young adults.

Today, the Church rejoices as we reach the climax of the Easter Season by celebrating the Feast of Pentecost. The cry of Pentecost is to renew the face of the earth. Having been given New Life in Christ, it is time now for the Church to share the Good News of Jesus the Risen Lord and the New Life that He is offering to all of humanity. Indeed, the Holy Spirit given at Pentecost is for the sake of the mission, to go out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News. (cf Mk 16:15)

What the world needs most is unity in the face of division and fundamentalism. With the current climate of moral relativism, individualism and materialism, it is more and more difficult to find unity among all peoples, especially when we are living in a world of globalisation and mass communication. What is a blessing is also a potential divide because of the speed and the flood of information, so much so that no one knows what is right or wrong anymore. We are paralysed by so many different views that we end up in relativism and confusion as to what is truth and love. The reality is that there can be no unity unless there is love. But there can be no love unless it is founded in truth. So where is the truth to be found?